September 16: Insight Post by Rusty Coram
Wednesday Insight Post
by Rusty Coram
As a new Christian I was around several people that claimed to regularly hear God’s voice and special instructions and guidance from Him. Sometimes it would be about a new romantic interest, a job, a move, or secret knowledge about somebody. Often what these special messages had in common were “feelings” that the person had and a strong desire for them to come to pass. More often than not, things didn’t work out the way they imagined. What I learned along the way was that the Holy Spirit will give us guidance, but always in line with the revealed truth in the Bible and never contradictory to it. Never.
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me.” John 16:13–14 (NLT)
The very best way to be guided by the Holy Spirit is to read and study the Bible. By doing this, we gain a practical understanding of God, His values, principles to live by, and purposes to pursue. The better acquainted I am with the Bible, the better I will be at discerning the Spirit’s direction. This is important for many reasons, but a big one is that without the Bible as my foundation, my self-centered bent can easily mislead me. I had a good friend who claimed God was giving him amazing insights about all sorts of things, while at the same time he was dishonoring God in his relationship with his girlfriend. That is not how God works. When we are faithful with what we already know, then God will show us more. If we are unfaithful and disobedient, we shouldn’t expect anything new.
Rusty Coram
Senior Pastor